Actually, Daniel Radcliffe invoked the f-word in direct relation to Harry Potter, but first we were talking about his charming new movie, "The F Word," which was forced into a title change. It's now called "What If," and it lands in Cleveland theaters on Friday, Aug. 15.

"That was the MPAA," said Radcliffe on the phone from New York. The actor, who turned 25 last month, was explaining that even though his romantic comedy, co-starring Zoe Kazan, was called "The F Word" when it debuted last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Motion Picture Association of America was not keen on it.

"We all loved the title," said Radcliffe, "but the MPAA said you can't release a movie called 'The F Word,' even though, as we all know, the f-word is a phrase you specifically say to children to avoid them hearing the actual f-word. And underneath the title on the poster, it said, 'The dirtiest word in romance – friends.' We could not have made it any more explicit. It's not even rated R."

View full sizeWallace and Chantry (Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan) try to figure out their affections in "What If." CBS Films

The film, directed by Michael Dowse ("Take Me Home Tonight") has a "When Harry Met Sally" vibe. It asks the eternal question: Can men and women really be friends or will sexual desire and romantic entanglements always complicate things?

Radcliffe plays Wallace, a man still recovering from a break-up. Kazan is Chantry. They meet cute at a party and embrace their quirky chemistry. The future looks bright, until Chantry drops a bomb: She lives with her boyfriend. Will she and Wallace be able to play the just-friends game?

Radcliffe is very friendly, very chatty and a very fast talker. He had just attended the New York premiere of "What If" the night before, doing the photos-with-fans thing along the red carpet.

Unlike some movie stars who grew up before our eyes, he is not fleeing from his past. He appreciates what the success of the Hogwarts universe has done for him and the things he learned on-set while making eight blockbusters.

Not that he is anxious to dress up in a wizard's costume. When he attended Comic-Con in San Diego last month, Radcliffe was ostensibly there to appear on a panel for the upcoming horror film "Horns." But he had more fun geeking out with the fans, meeting other celebrities and dressing up as Spider-Man to wander about the convention floor "unnoticed."

Outside of the Potter franchise, Radcliffe has tackled a host of varied roles on Broadway ("Equus" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"), television ("A Young Doctor's Notebook" with Jon Hamm) and in film (he starred as Allen Ginsberg in "Kill Your Darlings," an edgy look at the early days of the Beat poets). In these projects, he has danced, appeared naked, had gay lovers, fallen for horses and sung "The Brotherhood of Man."

His latest role in "What If" takes him closer to something else: himself.

"This character is the most like myself of any character I've ever played," he said. "We're not the same in terms of decisions we would make, but we have a similar sense of humor and we're both English and living today in a contemporary modern world.

"I've literally never done that before. It's not an easy role, but I am at ease, and living in this time period and not playing a wizard."

I started to ask him how he felt about approaching the quote-unquote "leading-man role" in a romantic comedy, when he jumped in rapidly.

"Yeah, I did have to pick someone off last night when she asked, 'Is this your first leading-man role?'

"I said, 'I played Harry [bleeping] Potter!' But then I realized she meant romantic lead, so I was like, 'OK, I get it.' "

(I hope it makes all of the endless autograph and photo requests, and arcane questions, worth it, when you can forever pull out of your pocket: "I played Harry [bleeping] Potter!")

He said he was drawn to "What If" by Elan Mastai's script, based on the play "Toothpaste and Cigars" by T.J. Dawe and Michael Rinaldi.

"It was fantastic, incredibly smart, very funny. My concern with really funny scripts is that they become just an hour-and-a-half of people doing jokes without actually going anywhere. But this has emotional punch at the end."

Wallace lives in his sister's attic and likes to sit outside on the roof, contemplating the universe and wondering if expressing his true feelings will poison his relationship with Chantry.

"I approach every character in the same way," he said, "which is sort of working out what the character wants out of life, and then what he wants out of every scene, and then every line. What is he trying to do to the person he's saying that line to?

"Whatever keeps you engaged and focused on that other person is great. So you're not thinking, 'Am I being charming and romantic enough?' Because the minute you start thinking about yourself, it's sort of death!"

"Horns" opens on Halloween. "Frankenstein," in which Radcliffe plays Igor opposite James McAvoy's Victor Frankenstein, is slated for an October 2015 release. In between, he'll star in Judd Apatow's new comedy, "Trainwreck," due next summer.

I didn't want to overwhelm him with Harry Potter questions, but I was curious what his perspective was now about the whole experience and what he had learned from it.

"I learned what I wanted to do with the rest of my life," he said, laughing. "I learned incredible stamina, because I didn't realize then that it is not customary for films to shoot 11 months at a time. Growing up, I thought that was absolutely normal.

"I used to be very intimidated heading into the rehearsal room for 'Equus' or 'How to Succeed.' I'm always intimidated by classically trained actors. Even though I grew up with Maggie Smith and all those amazing people, for some reason, whenever I worked with people my own age who are classically trained, I was intimidated.

"But then I realized that I have a built-in second sense on a film set, a set of instincts that I've acquired. Like the relationship you have with the camera, and how to trust it, and the technical aspects. At the end of Potter, I wasn't capable of seeing that. Now I see it."

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